Rebirth
by PassionPaint
Summary: The world she knew was gone, obliterated by nuclear power. Her husband was murdered and her baby boy was stolen from her. Nora is the only survivor of Vault 111. This new world is brutal and relentless. She'll have to cope with her losses, adapt to the hazardous lands and battle her sorrow if she wants to survive and see her baby again. (In-depth story. Not a one shot)


1.  
Common Occurrence 

"Hancock." She called to him, but it was barely a whisper.

He was crouched against a smashed-in subway pillar, barely hidden from the makeshift spotlight that was slowly scanning the tunnel platform. He raised the ridge of his brow bone and asked, "How many do ya see?"  
She raised two fingers. He let out a low whistle. She quickly shushed him.

"Okay, where are they?" He whispered, almost comically in the effort he was putting in to be quiet. She raised one finger and then eight. Hancock laughed.

"Are you seriously using clock positions?"

"Yes!" She urged through gritted teeth as he was struggling to stifle his laughter.

"Okay Napoleon, AM or PM?" he asked in voice that was borderline mocking. She glared at him, annoyed at how he thought this was a joke. If anyone heard their voices or the gravel crunching beneath their feet, guns would go blazing once again. Just once she would like to be in and out of an area undetected. No grenades, no flying bullet casings and no deaths. That had yet to happen since joining up with Hancock.

It wasn't to say that he wasn't an excellent shot, or brave in the way that he would slowly advance on enemies out of cover, his shotgun tearing through everything in front of him. It was almost like getting injured wasn't a possibility or even a concern. She remembered her shock the first time she saw him in a fight, how he looked when he took down raiders and paranoid scavengers. Unlike her, he wasn't overwhelmed with guilt when he gunned someone down. In fact, he looked… confident, focused, maybe a part of him even enjoyed it. It was a concept Nora was still struggling with, the idea of true survival out here in the wastelands of the Commonwealth; that it was either them or her that had to die. Traveling with Hancock was helping her understand that. His fearlessness, however educational, was positively loathed in any situation that called for a lighter touch.

During their first days together, she thought Hancock was being noisy on purpose, but then it became blatantly clear that he didn't possess a single ounce of stealth in his entire body. He was constantly kicking empty cans, stepping on shattered glass or dragging and scrapping his boots as they tried to sneak by. She was determined to teach him though; he was an excellent partner to have watching her back and too good a shot to just dismiss over poor coordination.

In many dangerous situations, like the one they were in now, rather than use actual words, Nora tried using hand signals, gestures, anything to communicate to him without having to speak. Hancock, however, found it hysterical to watch her weave odd shapes and signs with her hands. He did think it was a joke.  
"Stop screwing around!" She whispered fast, "I don't want to fight today, I just want to get through here before were spotted."

"Then maybe we should find another route that _isn't_ through a raider den."

Nora bit her lip— this tunnel was the fastest way to Goodneighbor without entering the thick of Boston. Nora remembered her first expedition into the financial district and how she _barely_ made it out alive. Quite frankly, she didn't own nearly enough bullets to take on the lively locals.

"No, this is the quickest way -" She began to explain, but ceased when she heard voices from across the tracks. Hancock leaned out a little from behind the pillar. Across the subway gap was a shoddy-looking fort built entirely of scrap metal and wood. Nora noted that a well chucked grenade would annihilate it, though it would defeat the purpose of stealth. Even though it was a light wind gust away from falling apart, the raiders beyond the scrap barricade were well protected from gunfire, so a direct assault wasn't smart. She was at least pleased to see no guards were stationed outside to patrol. Except for the dim spotlight, it would be easy enough to avoid, even with Hancock's thunder feet.

"Not that this isn't fun, but we can sneak around this thing-"

"Wait, do you hear that?"

"Yeah, they're talking, which is a good opportunity to get moving."

"No smartass there's something else." She was talking more to herself now. She was listening for something very specific. She knew she heard it. The voices across were getting louder, closer.

"-Still hasn't come back. " Said a woman's voice.

"I'm sure he's fine, just relax." Said another mans.

"I'll fucking relax when I'm ready to fucking relax," she shot back.

"Okay, okay! Geez, why you always in such a bad mood?"

"Why? The asshole that's supposed to cover my shift right now isn't back yet and I'm fucking tired. I hope the ferals ripped his throat out," she spat.

"Don't joke like that," he said at once, "There aren't any ferals here. Boss said so."

" _The Boss said so_ ," she mocked, "Where do you think we are, dumbass? We're in a fuckin subway. This is where zombies _come_ to live."  
The man said nothing for a while. Nora closed her eyes. Her growing suspicions of what lurked down here were right.

Ferals.

Every inch of her body was covered in goose bumps and it took all her power to repress a chill that shot up her spine. Of all the horrible, morbid atrocities she's seen out here in the Commonwealth, ferals were the ones that truly frightened her to her soul.

"I don't think there's Ferals down here." The man said more to himself.

"What the fuck did you say?" She hissed. The next thing they heard was the sound of a gun smashing into bone. The man wailed.

"Listen here, stupid, I've been here longer than you so that makes me your superior,"- they heard the gun come down again, -"and I'm telling you that there's no damn ghouls down here! Now get your ass up and cover me, I'm going to sleep. If anything wakes me, I'll fucking gut you."

"She's charming," Nora joked, trying to hide her own fear of possibly being trapped underground with Ferals, "Let's get out of here." Hancock nodded and slowly they tiptoed behind the pillars. They waited for the spotlight to move away before they quickly lowered themselves onto the empty train tracks. Right when they started down the slope of the rusted railway, she heard it. That shuffle of feet, the moist sounds of rotting flesh moving. Her heart dropped and she quickly whipped around. Nothing was there.  
 _But they're here_ , she thought, _they're here somewhere._

The footsteps echoed closer and closer, until they became silent.

"Get ready." She looked to Hancock who already had his gun out. It was disheartening to see how calm he was compared to her. She could feel her anxiety as if it was choking her, like it could spill out any second. She quietly took a deep breath and pulled her pistol out. She hated how much these monstrosities got under her skin. She had hoped above all else that Hancock couldn't see it; she didn't need to give him more evidence that she was a fearful newborn in the Commonwealth.

Suddenly she heard running and saw that a man with blood gushing down his face-most likely the raider who had been beaten on-had hopped over the fence and was sprinting up the stairs to the subway entrance.  
Gone.  
He had heard the Ferals too, or saw them. She began debating which route now presented the most danger: this tunnel or the horrors of Boston. Before she could come to a decision, several sharp screeches filled the air followed by the sounds of bodies slamming into the flimsy fort wall. Ferals were notorious for their rapid and careless charges at their prey, regardless if they missed and flew into objects instead. A woman screamed and gunfire rang.

"FERALS-HELP!" The women shrieked over more fire, "WHERE IS EVERYONE?!"

Large, heavy, metal sounding footsteps were approaching.

"Power armor," said Hancock, "If we're lucky, they'll get taken down by the Ferals too. We don't have the bullets to take that on."

She scoffed; she knew that, their last ammo count had been pitiful. Nora at least appreciated that Hancock didn't sound phased, that the Ferals didn't leave him in a state of paralyzing fear-It was almost comforting.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" screamed the person from the power armor. The gunfire increased, as did the number of feral footsteps.

"Those idiots are attracting more ferals with all their noise," She whispered. Unfortunately for the woman, the giant steps of the power quickly receded in the opposite direction.

"NO! WHERE ARE YOU GOING- YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!" The woman screamed.

From what they could hear, this raider was fighting hard. There was constant firing and a confident shriek of "GET SOME, MOTHERFUCKER!" But all at once the gunfire stopped. Nora figured she had ran out of ammo- no one would willingly stop firing at a feral ghoul. The only thing audible was high pitched screaming.

"No- _no_ -" was the last thing they heard from her. The tunnel fell silent except for the soft wet sounds of ripping and chewing.  
They were _eating her._  
Nora felt the color drain from her face. That could be _her_ right now.  
 _To die like that_ …  
Even for a raider, it was a shitty way to go. She felt a tap on her shoulder; Hancock had been staring at her.

"You alright? You look like you're gonna pass out." She shook her head and tried to make her face a blank slate. _Keep it together keep it together_ she told herself _._

"Yes I'm fine thank you," she brushed off quickly as she tried to sound calm, "I'm not sure if we should keep going down this subway, we have no idea how many ferals are down here-" There was a loud, thundering crash from behind her saw to her horror that the raider fort had collapsed into rubble.

"Oh god, they knocked down the walls." She gasped. Right on que, two feral ghouls with blood and skin strips dripping from their mouths stumbled out. Their bodies jerking around wildly, searching for a new meal. Nora crouched as low as possible; there wasn't any light on them, hopefully they wouldn't see her or Hancock. Unfortunately, as if they were reading her mind, one turned towards her. She held her breath as its head bobbed up and down in her direction. Ferals still retained their eyesight, but their range was poor. It took a few steps towards the edge of the platform and waited, like it was listening for a new victim, then it stepped onto the tracks. The feral was looking for them for sure, but it couldn't see them further down the lane.  
 _How the hell are we going to get out now?_  
Hancock tapped on her again and pointed to something on her side. Right next to her was an opening into the concrete wall of the subway tunnel.

 _A maintenance shaft?_

She lifted each foot as carefully as she could while keeping a watchful eye on the ferals away from her; they didn't seem to stir in her direction anymore. She slowly released her breath as she realized that if she kept this quiet, she could make her way up the stairs and out the door. Hancock was not as vigilant, as his very first step met the railing of the metal track. It's sharp ring echoed up the tunnel. Two loud and throaty gurgles came from above her and she saw in horror as they were stumbling towards them.

" _Hancock_!" she hissed

"Ah shit sorry-" A feral charged and hurtled past him. A scream began to escape Nora before the other ghoul collided right into her body. She went sailing over the ground with her bare skin scrapping against the solid concrete. She didn't register the pain as she rapidly jumped to her feet. The ghoul spun around to face her, showing its hollowed and colorless face with two beady, bloodshot eyes. It mouth was missing all but five teeth with something foamy oozing past its rotted lips. Nora stared at it with wide, terrified eyes as her hands fumbled with her gun holster. Her gun wasn't there- _it wasn't there!_ She looked around and felt true panic when she saw it yards away behind the feral in front of her. Hancock didn't stand around in fear like Nora did, instead he moved swiftly past her. She almost cried after him ' _Don't leave me!'_ Instead she felt a sharp jerk on her collar as she was pulled backwards.

"Come on sister we gotta haul ass out here," He urged her as she gawked at him in bewilderment. He grabbed her arm and lead her down the service hallway. Luckily, they didn't get too deep into the subway, so the exit wasn't far. They sprinted up the steep stairs together, moving as fast as they could with a pack of ferals now charging after them. Nora didn't dare glance over her shoulder, the fear of seeing so many behind her-chasing her, would stop her dead in her tracks. They turned down a hallway and finally came to the lobby of the subway, where two heavy doors stood between them and freedom. They threw their bodies against the metal doors and they exploded open. Hancock quickly began looking around and saw a heavy dumpster nearby; he ran to it and began pushing it toward the door. Nora quickly joined him; she hadn't considered that the ghouls could pursue them outside. It was incredibly heavy, especially with the centuries of rust and corrosion solidifying the wheels. She pushed with all her might until it slammed against the doors, effectively sealing anything from getting out. They backed away right when the doors erupted with thunderous bangs and screeches. It seemed like the dumpster was going to hold, so Nora relaxed and took several deep breaths of the crisp night air. They were back outside on the outskirts of Boston, right before the fields of the suburbs met with the buildings that towered over the lands. The sun was gone, and a million stars dusted the sky. Nora stared at it for a moment. No matter how many times she saw it, the wasteland sky was astonishing.

"So what now Napoleon?" Hancock asked in his usual aloof demeanor. Nora thought for a moment, not taking her eyes of the stars.

"Well, I'd prefer not to roam the streets of Boston at night..." She tore her eyes away and looked at her surroundings. She could see a few lone houses in the distance among the dead hills that surrounded the outer city limit, "Let camp there tonight, pick this up tomorrow and try again" She announced. Hancock nodded and followed her as they made their way far from the subway.


End file.
